They Left Me, He Claimed My Heart

I was the luckiest woman in New York, with three devoted, successful men catering to my every whim.

Then, they left me. All three of them, for the same woman-a self-made CEO who was everything I wasn't.

They called me a spoiled brat, a user, a burden. When I ran to them, broken and bleeding after a fall, they pushed me away. One of them even put his hands on my throat, his eyes filled with a hatred I' d never seen, all while the others watched.

Their disgust was a physical blow, shattering the last piece of my heart. I was nothing to them anymore, just a mistake they were desperate to erase.

So, in my darkest moment, I made a choice. I ran to my father and demanded he arrange my marriage to the one man our circle feared-a reclusive Scottish heir they called the "Sea Lord."

It was a life sentence, but it was also my only escape.

Chapter 1

CRYSTAL BURGESS POV:

They called me the luckiest woman in New York. Three men, all successful, all devoted, bending to my every whim. I thought it was real, until it wasn't.

My closet was a showroom of designer labels, my jewelry box overflowing with pieces from Cartier and Tiffany. I' d once thrown a fit because my morning latte wasn' t frothed to my exact specifications, and Garrick, bless his patient soul, had personally gone to three different cafes to fix it.

Jorden, my passionate musician, often bore the brunt of my moods. One evening, he was late for dinner, and I ripped into him, accusing him of caring more about his band than about me. His face, usually so vibrant, just dulled.

I didn' t know any other way. My father, Hubert, a CEO whose empire seemed to stretch forever, had always indulged me. My partners picked up where he left off. Why wouldn' t I expect the world to cater to me?

Then Andrea Harmon walked into our lives. She wasn' t just new to our elite circles; she was a storm. She captivated everyone, not with lavish spending, but by simply being herself.

Andrea was all sunshine and self-made grit, her smile genuine, never forced. I, on the other hand, had become a perpetual cloud of entitlement, my own smiles feeling brittle even to me.

She was a wellness brand CEO, built from the ground up. She talked about business deals and market strategies, not which boutique had the latest collection. It was a language I barely understood, but everyone else seemed to hang on her every word.

And she was a single mother. Her son, a bright-eyed boy, was always impeccably cared for, his existence seamlessly woven into her demanding schedule. She didn' t need anyone to underwrite her life; she wrote her own checks.

Garrick, my pragmatic architect, was the first to change. His once adoring gaze now held a flicker of something colder, something that felt suspiciously like judgment. He started